The French Adventure: Visitors

Henry couldn't stand still as we waited to see their train come around the corner!

Friends together again- Alexander, James, and Henry on the Geneva train platform.

We travelled in the dark and rain to the town of Zermatt, Switzerland and arrived to this "no- cars allowed" town late at night. This little party wagon took us to our little house.

We had no idea what things would look like in the morning since we had seen nothing on our way into town.

We sure were thrilled to find this sight in the morning! The Matterhorn peak is the one in the background. This summer marked the 150 year anniversary of the first ascent. Six men went up, but only two returned. There is apparently still a great deal of controversy over what really happened?

We took a little train to the top of the mountain for some lunch and what turned out to be a beautiful day. We hiked all the way back down and stopped along the way to swim and take in the views of the Matterhorn.

Susan and Anthony :)

The boys on a pulley raft

As we walked, we saw Zermatt below and knew we were getting close! The boys did a great job - it was a long, tough hike!

The next day in Zermatt we split up after lunch- Susan and I set out on some shopping and the boys hit a ropes course.

Then back together for a delicious meal - just such fun to be together and catch up after a year apart!

The next day we took one last picture in Zermatt and headed to Clermont- Ferrand for a quick visit.

It sure is fun to walk around our local streets and markets with these friends in tow!

A shot of our house in the summer.

James is an amazing builder! This was his quick rendition of a soccer field!

A game of marbles in action while the parents bought groceries at the market.

Gant introducing Susan and Anthony to his favorite wine shop.

I had to take Susan to my favorite "junk" shop- she found some treasures, among them, toy guns! We were shocked to see guns in France in any form! Children were running away from her as she carried them around- I mean, have you ever seen anyone who looks LESS scary?? She is way too pretty to scare anyone, but the guns are a rare sight!

I had to show these of the boys in front of our Vercingetorix statue -notice the clothing- heat wave OVER!! I seriously didn't think we were going to make it a couple of weeks ago!

Anthony eating escargot- we were so glad the Bowies were game for all of the French food!

One of my favorite things about hosting friends in CF is just getting to do our regular routine, but sharing it with them! When we got back to the apartment after our day of exploring, we made a cheese plate, watched soccer, and just hung out while the boys played more marbles. These are such special times to us since as foreigners, we don't get to have "regular life" with friends from home!

Our last stop- PARIS...

The Louvre

After leaving lunch and walking the grounds, we stumbled upon a little amusement park. We had to stop for a little ride on the bumper cars!

And a gorgeous sunset over Paris.

The start of our next day- we stopped to take some pics-

We had some people really good at Photobombing so we had to give it up!

We decided to do a hop on, hop off bus to get a panoramic view of some sights - it was a great way to see a lot in a short time. It does stop A LOT and waits at each place A LONG TIME while playing some French music on a loop!